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1. Historical developments

2. Main concepts

Historical developments

In Portugal, volunteering work emerged in the ‘Santas Casas da Misericórdia’ (charitable organisations) in the fifteenth century, at the time with a strong catholic influence and a welfare character.

In the XIX century, given the social and economic changes, as well as the separation of powers between Church and State, new volunteering profiles appeared – developed by cooperatives, mutual models, associations, and unions. This kind of volunteering work, ideologically shaped, aimed at transforming the political and social scene of that time.

In the Second Republic period (‘Estado Novo’, 1974-1933), this social and political volunteering work perspective suffered a strong retraction. Most activities were prohibited, and the State interfered more pronouncedly in the social sphere.

The period after the Revolução dos Cravos (Carnation Revolution), on 25^th april, 1974, was a time of further volunteering expansion, with an intervention in sectors such as education (adult literacy campaigns) or health. In this period, the associative youth movement gained a new relevance in society and, consequently, youth volunteering did too.

Youth Policy and the promotion of Youth Volunteering

The promotion of youth volunteering, especially for the past 25 years, has been an objective in national youth policies. IPDJ and its preceding youth organisations developed a series of measures and programmes for this purpose, such as:

In 1993, the Youth Institute created two programmes in the cooperation and solidarity sectors, namely:

• Youth Volunteers for Cooperation (JVC) – establishing measures concerning the implementation of youth volunteering actions for cooperation to be established with PALOP countries (Portuguese-speaking African Countries), by Decree-Law no. 205/93;
• Youth Volunteers for Solidarity (JVS) – establishing measures concerning the implementation of youth volunteering actions for solidarity (by Decree-Law no. 168/93).

After enacting the legal framework for volunteering work (Law no. 71/98, of 3 November), youth volunteering in Portugal, as a public policy, has been promoted through the following means, by the Portuguese Youth Institute:

• 2001 – Launch of the Youth Volunteering Information System. This information system, based on a web-platform, aimed to promote, through the Internet, the gathering of young people, entities promoting volunteering work, trainers, and sponsors;
• 2003 – Establishment of partnerships with various entities to promote volunteering work in different sectors, such as sports, social solidarity, environment, and culture;
• 2005 – Development of voluntary service activities of which the Youth Institute is the promoter.

In 2013, after 20 years of experience, IPDJ published the regulation of the Now Us (Agora Nós) volunteering programme (Ordinance no. 242/2013, of 2 August), which aimed to promote and encourage youth volunteering work as a means of acquiring skills, by participating in projects applying non-formal education methodologies. This programme has led to the establishment of a registry of organisations that promote youth volunteering, bringing together all the information on volunteering projects, while simultaneously allowing for the registration of youngsters on those projects.

From 2018 onwards, national youth plans established several youth volunteering measures to be developed by IPDJ and by other State and private entities.

Main concepts

The concepts of volunteering and volunteer are defined in Law no. 71/98, of 3 November:

Article 2 – ‘Volunteering is the set of actions of social and community interest carried out selflessly by individuals, in the context of non-profit projects, programmes, and other forms of assistance developed by public or private entities, serving persons, families, and the community.’

• Article 3 – ‘Volunteer is the individual who freely, selflessly and responsibly, according to their own skills and in their spare time, undertakes to carry out volunteering activities under a promoting organisation.

In Portugal, youth volunteering lacks a formal definition. However, IPDJ addresses individuals aged 14 to 30, enabling them to engage in community-focused voluntary services. These services are crucial for skills acquisition through non-formal education.